Warren, Whitehouse Slam Watchdog’s Oversight of Audit Quality

The US audit industry watchdog is under fire from Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Sheldon Whitehouse for allowing what they called an “embarrassing” batch of firm inspection results.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board found flaws in almost half of the audits it reviewed last year at accounting firms that are under its purview. The board is tasked with overseeing the firms that are hired to vet public companies’ financial statements.

“The findings of the review cast doubt upon the agency’s ability to do its job,” Warren (D-Mass.) and Whitehouse (D-R.I.) wrote in a Wednesday letter to PCAOB Chair Erica ...